On the Frontline sheds light on the history of the hitherto marginalized Danish avant-garde artist group Linien II, from the group's founding in 1947 to its dissolution in 1952 – as well as its further afterlife right up to the present day.
The book focuses both on the group's artistic and political work, thereby placing the group in a broader art and cultural historical perspective. As a monograph, it is the first book of its kind, since Linien II, unlike e.g. Cobra, has never before been described in detail. This is a paradox, since Linien II had strong connections to many prominent artists outside of Denmark, including Josef Albers, Jean Arp, Le Corbusier, Hans Hartung and Alberto Giacometti, just as Linien II had both established exhibitions in the USA and England during its own epoch contemporary, which Cobra e.g. never achieved.
With this monumental monograph, in which the social and political potential of art in particular is unfolded in detail, new and previously unknown aspects have finally been added to the history of Linien II specifically, as well as to Danish post-war art in general.
